Law Abiding Citizen
Grade: A -
There is something deeply troubling about a genius who has been stripped of all moral limitations and will kill anyone. Gerard Butler is Clyde Shelton, a brilliant “tinkerer” and family man who had to watch helplessly as his family was slaughtered in front of him. He found himself then utterly betrayed by the judicial system as he watched the murderer get out of prison in a matter of years in exchange for getting his accomplice sent to death row. Jamie Foxx plays Assistant District Attorney Nick Rice, the man who made the deal and the focal point for what is one of the most compelling and intriguing of all revenge films, “Law Abiding Citizen.”
For Shelton, the men who did the terrible deed are only the tip of an immense iceberg; there is much more behind his disgust with a justice system he has come to despise. The movie is quick to move on to the revenge phase. The backstory it establishes is important and unrushed, but little dalliance is made; the audience and film both know full well what everyone has come to see and are eager to dive into a world where anything can be used as a lethal weapon. Piece by piece, body by brutally, yet brilliantly murdered body, the pawns are set in motion as we begin to truly feel an impossibly well-laid plan 10 years in the making.
Well deserving its R rating, “Law Abiding Citizen” is often violent and disturbing, but incredibly captivating with the always-impressive Foxx and a kind of calculating, cold-hearted portrayal not yet seen in Butler. In many ways, his Shelton is more dangerous — more badass — than his King Leonidas in “300.” Where the Spartan king was a beast of inhuman skill and superhuman will, Shelton is a killing machine in his own right, able to kill anyone, anywhere, with everything from explosives to poison to killing gadgets more clever than what often inhabits even the best spy movies.
Each kill is unique and emotional in its own way. In an industry that often regurgitates the same death scenes a dozen times over, “Citizen” remains original and never contrived. We come to truly fear Shelton even as we are captivated by him, being both sympathetic and in fear of a man who has every right to be the monster he is today. There is something of a Nolan-style “Joker” in director F. Gary Gray’s direction. A complex plan of death and destruction unfolds before our eyes in an execution as elaborate as it is devastating. The director brilliantly takes a calculated approach to the film, tearing away the audience’s footing just when they think they’ve grasped the direction of the film.
Of course, a plan as well set with a killer as unique and intriguing is going to have trouble wrapping itself up and indeed, “Citizen’s” only real weakness is in a lackluster ending. It makes sense, as a story like this has enough energy to fry most brakes applied to it. The film is in some ways too good to end, finishing up as well as can be expected, given the difficultly of this task. The end is certainly satisfying, but in many ways it just doesn’t seem good enough for a movie that is otherwise truly exceptional in its acting, plot, direction, sheer vibrancy and intrigue.
“Law Abiding Citizen” will hit theaters Friday, Oct. 16.
You can reach this writer at thescene@theeagleonline.com.
